FIRESTONE -- When her 27-year-old daughter died unexpectedly two years ago, Chris Thurnau's heart broke.

Now, she says, she is putting the pieces back together with wax.

Shortly after her daughter, Katrina Fair, died of colon cancer in August of 2011, Thurnau read that that natural light can be seen by those on "the other side." Thurnau began making candles about five months later.

"It was a way for me to feel connected to her so I started making my own candles and experimenting with different wicks to find the brightest light," Thurnau said. "The candles have become about strength, hope, peace and honoring her life, and mine too."

On Saturday, Thurnau will be selling her line of Katrina's Candles at the second annual Full Moon 5K in Firestone, a fundraiser for the Longmont United Hospital Foundation, which provides colon cancer screenings and support groups.

The 5K race starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and is followed by a fun run at 9:30 a.m., at the Firestone Regional Sports Complex in Firestone. Live music, family activities and local vendors will be at the complex until 2 p.m.

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Longmont residents Shane and Breann Angelovich founded the race last year after Shane's mother, Sindy Angelovich, was diagnosed with colon cancer.

"It was a way for me to feel like I was doing something productive when I felt helpless," Shane Angelovich said. "I wanted to give my mom, and other people like her, a stage to tell her story."

Katrina's family, including her parents Chris and Gary Thurnau and her husband, Josh Fair, will be at the race to tell her story.

A photo of Katrina and Josh Fair is seen on a counter Wednesday at Katrina's parents home in Evergreen.
(Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)
(
Matthew Jonas
)

In January 2011, Firestone residents Katrina and Josh Fair found out they were expecting a baby. The next eight months were hard for Katrina, who was constantly sick and in and out of the hospital for what doctors then believed was a difficult pregnancy, Fair said.

"I remember her telling the doctors that she had a history of colon cancer on her dad's side early on when we were going through all of that stuff, but at that point the doctors just told her to consider getting tested after she had the baby," Fair said. "We didn't even know she had cancer until it showed up on the autopsy about two days after she died."

Katrina was about 81/2 months pregnant when she passed out at home on Aug. 16, 2011. Despite efforts to revive her, Katrina and her baby died in a helicopter on the way to the hospital, Fair said.

Last year, the family did not participate in the inaugural Full Moon 5K, but the couple's former neighbor did. A young girl who lived two houses down from the Fairs in Firestone attended the event wearing a tank top that said "in memory of Katrina Fair."

"I have that tank top framed and hanging in my house," said Fair, who is currently working in Washington, D.C.

This year, Fair will fly back to Colorado to join several friends and family members who will form Team Katrina and Emma, the name Fair said Katrina wanted to give their daughter.

The team will be wearing T-shirts in honor of Katrina and Emily, sharing their story and selling candles to raise money for a fund they've started in her honor.

Chris Thurnau said the details of the fund are not finalized but the family plans to contribute to various efforts in Katrina's name, including the Full Moon 5K and possibly a scholarship for a midwife.

"Right now, it's not about making a profit or figuring out what to do with the money from the candles," Thurnau said. "It's about coping and finding our own way of dealing with what happened. And for me, that's sharing Katriny's story, because her death might have been about colon cancer, but her life was so about so much more than that."

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